Mamenchisaurid vertebra from Thailand

[Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com>]

From: Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com

New  advance paper online in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica:


Suravech Suteethorn, Jean Le Loeuff, Eric Buffetaut, Varavudh
Suteethorn, and Kamonrak Wongko (2012)
First evidence of a mamenchisaurid dinosaur from the Late
Jurassic/Early Cretaceous Phu Kradung Formation of Thailand.
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica (in press)
doi:10.4202/app.2009.0155
http://app.pan.pl/article/item/app20090155.html


An isolated posterior cervical vertebra of a sauropod discovered at
Phu Dan Ma (Kalasin Province, northeastern Thailand) is the first
informative postcranial specimen from the Phu Kradung Formation, a
Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous continental unit. The vertebra is
referred to the family Mamenchisauridae, otherwise mainly known from
China. In addition, spatulate teeth from the same formation and a
mid-dorsal vertebra from the Late Jurassic Khlong Min Formation of
southern Thailand are reassigned to this family. The occurrence of
mamenchisaurids in the earliest Cretaceous of Thailand supports a
hypothesis of geographical isolation of Central, Eastern and Southeast
Asia during the Late Jurassic. It also suggests that the main changes
in their dinosaur assemblages occurred during the Early Cretaceous,
rather than at the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary.